Free Much Ado About Felines (Whales and Tails Mystery Book 4) by Kathi Daley

your mind?”
    “It’s ‘Too Good to Be Legal’ night on Cooking With Cathy tonight,” I improvised. “I was just imagining the yummy choices we’re going to have. Let’s not forget to stop by the market before we head out to the cabin.”
    “I’ll print off a list of ingredients,” Tara offered as she headed toward the office.
    I returned to my dusting. Somehow the brief conversation I’d had with Tara had suppressed the memory of the dream I’d been having before she interrupted. Oh, well; mooning over Cody West was going to lead to no good anyway.
    I knelt down on the floor to work on the lowest shelf. Not that most people would notice a little dust all the way down there, but Tara was a stickler for cleanliness. Even when we were kids, her room had been spotless, while mine had been anything but.
    I was leaning back to stretch out my lower back when I heard the bell over the door announce a customer. I stood up from behind the bookshelf and greeted our new arrival: Becky Wood.
    “Morning, Becky. Heck of a day to be out shopping.”
    “Trust me, the main thing on my mind at this moment is curling up in front of the fire with a good book and a cup of hot coffee. Unfortunately, I’m out of new reading material. I’m also out of coffee, so I figured I’d risk getting wet and come in for both.”
    “I can make you a coffee while you browse. What’ll you have?”
    “Just a black coffee is fine. I’m trying to lose a few pounds.”
    Becky wasn’t fat, but if what I’d heard about her husband, Trace, having a wandering eye was true, I guess I couldn’t blame her for wanting to firm up a bit.
    “I guess you heard about Roxi Pettigrew,” I fished. Trish had indicated that Trace was one of the men Roxi had been seen fooling around with.
    Becky’s expression tightened. “I heard. Can’t say I’m overly upset about it.”
    “You didn’t get along with Roxi?” I handed Becky her cup of coffee.
    “We used to be friends until she started getting along with men who weren’t hers to get along with.”
    “Yeah, I’d heard something like that. Guess I can see why there are those who are just as happy to see her dead.”
    Becky paused and then sighed. “It’s not so much that I’m glad she’s dead. It’s just that I’m glad she isn’t here.”
    I pretended to dust a shelf I’d already dusted so I could position myself near where she was browsing.
    “Do you think Roxi’s tendency to flirt might have gotten her killed?”
    I watched Becky’s face as she answered. “Maybe.” She shrugged. “I know I wanted to strangle her, and quite honestly, I might have done it if I hadn’t heard she was moving at the end of the month.”
    “Moving?” I asked.
    “Yeah. Trace told me she’d sold Jimmy’s boat and was leaving the island for good.”
    “I hadn’t heard that,” I admitted.
    “I don’t think she was telling folks yet. Trace told me that she didn’t want people talking about it until she was ready to quit her job at the diner. I suppose that makes sense. Things can get awkward once you give notice at your job. Especially after everything Ernie did for her.”
    “I heard he gave her a month off with pay.”
    “He did more than that. He gave her the month off and he also paid off some big debt Jimmy had when he died. Sounded like it was a boatload of money.”
    “I hadn’t heard about a debt either. I guess you should be the amateur sleuth,” I buttered her up for the string of questions I suddenly had.
    Becky smiled. “You think I could be a detective?”
    “You seem to know more than most about what’s going on,” I continued. “I don’t suppose you know what sort of debt Jimmy left behind.”
    “I’m pretty sure it had to do with a business deal of some sort he got pulled into.”
    “Any idea who he was in debt to?” I asked.
    “No. Trace didn’t say and I didn’t ask. I was more concerned with making sure Trace knew it could be bad for his health if he kept providing